Summer is officially here and as the days get hotter, longer, and fun summer bbq’s and dinners come our way, nothing is better to eat and share than a refreshing yet filling salad. Today’s recipe is inspired by Karina, The Gluten-Free Goddess. All I can say is that if you haven’t checked out this blog, you need to get on it! Karina is the queen of all that is tasty and gluten free.
I took her awesome Quinoa Taco Salad, altered it to make it easier to digest (that means no corn) and also detox friendly for all my Summer Stunner Detoxers (I love you, SSD’s!). The end result is a filling, yummy, gluten-free salad that is full of all that’s great about summer cooking and about 99% solely farmers’ market ingredients. This salad is great for dinner, lunch, or to take to a summer potluck.
(Quick tip: Quinoa has a naturally occurring, protective coating called saponin. Soaking overnight or a few hours helps to remove it best, but if you don’t have time to do that, rinising it will also help to remove it. This process also helps to make it even more digestible.)
Lime Avocado Quinoa Salad
- 1 cup quinoa cooked in two cups water (you can do this on the stove or in a rice cooker)
- Olive Oil (as needed)
- The juice of 2-3 limes (fresh limes, no bottled stuff!)
- 1 large avocado, pitted and diced
- Small handful of chopped cilantro
- 1/2 of a small red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup diced green onions
- Sea salt
- One diced white or yellow peach
- 1 large head of romaine or red leaf lettuce, rinsed, dried, and chopped
Directions: Cook quinoa and set aside in a large bowl.
In the large bowl, drizzle the quinoa with a bit of olive oil and toss well. Then, squeeze the lime juice and sea salt (to taste) and toss again.
Next, add in your cilantro, red onion, green onion, and toss again. Add in the avocado and toss. Lastly, add in the diced peach, toss, and add in more lime juice if desired.
In a salad bowl, line the bowl with the lettuce, scoop out some of the salad onto the lettuce, and garnish with a couple of lime wedges or extra avocado. This salad goes lovely with some grilled or baked salmon, which is what I did with mine.
Hope you enjoy and, should you make this, you will be the star of your next summer potluck!
